Ambulance co. agrees to pay millions to settle "swapping" suit
Healthcare Auditing Weekly, June 19, 2007
Scottsdale, AZ-based Rural/ Metro Corp. has agreed to pay the federal government more than $2.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.
The federal government alleged that the company provided or offered inducements to Texas hospitals in the form of contracts known as "swapping arrangements," the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Such contracts were alleged to have given the hospitals discounts on transports in exchange for the referral of all or some of the ambulance transports of patients being discharged from the hospitals, which were billed to Medicare, the department said.
The settlement resulted from whistleblower lawsuits filed in 2000 and 2001 by Daniel Block and Adam Wightman, previous employees of one of Rural/Metro's competitors, the department said.
Source: East Valley Tribune
Learn how to help prevent illegal swapping arrangements at your facility in Healthcare Auditing Strategies' story "Audit your facility's ambulance rates to prevent inappropriate discounts."
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